William Scranton, III

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William Worthington Scranton, III (born July 20, 1947, in Scranton, Pennsylvania) served as the Republican lieutenant governor of the state of Pennsylvania from 1979 to 1987 in the administration of Governor Richard Thornburgh. He is the son of former Pennsylvania Governor William Scranton, and a member of the wealthy and politically influential Scranton family, the founders of Scranton, Pennsylvania.

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[edit] Early life

Scranton attended Yale University, where he was a recreational drug user; he continued occasional drug use until the early 1970s.[1][2] After college he became the editor of a local newspaper in Mountaintop, Pennsylvania. In 1970, he went to Europe to study the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's method of Transcendental Meditation, and became a life-long practitioner of the Transcendental Meditation technique.[3][4] He then became president and managing editor of the Greenstreet News Company. He entered politics as a member of the Republican State Committee in 1976.

[edit] Lieutenant Governor 1979-1987

In 1978, he won the Republican primary for lieutenant governor and later that year became the youngest person ever elected lieutenant governor in Pennsylvania. His dual role as Chairman of the Governor's Energy Council and Chairman of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Council put him at the center of the Three Mile Island crisis in 1979. As Lieutenant Governor, Scranton hired Nat Goldhaber – a close associate of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi – as his top aide in Harrisburg. In 1982, he was unanimously elected as Chairman of the National Conference of Lieutenant Governors.

[edit] Candidate for Governor 1986

After his stint as lieutenant governor, Scranton ran for Governor of Pennsylvania in 1986 against Robert P. Casey. The race was virtually tied until five days before election day when Casey's media consultants, led by a young James Carville, launched the now-infamous "guru" ad.[3][2] This television advertisement portrayed Scranton as having been a regular drug user in the 1960s and mocked Scranton's interest in transcendental meditation and his ties to the Maharishi.[3][2] The image of Scranton as a "long haired, dope- smoking hippie" is seen by political observers as having tipped the scales against Scranton in socially conservative Pennsylvania.[3][2] Casey went on to win the election by a narrow margin of 79,216 out of 3.3 million votes cast.[3]

[edit] Private Sector

After losing the 1986 election, Scranton exited politics for a while and manages three number of California companies, including start-up firms. He returned to Pennsylvania in 1994 to manage his family's interests.

Scranton served the board of directors for a number of Pennsylvania companies, including overseeing the turnaround of the Harleysville Group of Insurance Companies as Chairman of the Board. He has also co-founded and currently co-chairs the Great Valley Technology Alliance, whose mission is the creation of a self-sustaining technology-based economy in Northeastern Pennsylvania. In 1992, Scranton donated $1,000 to the campaign of his friend Dr. John Hagelin, the Pittsburgh-born presidential candidate for the Transcendental Meditation-backed Natural Law Party.[4] Other than this donation, Scranton says he has only ever supported Republicans.[4]

[edit] Candidate for Governor 2006

On October 17, 2005, Scranton formally announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for Governor of Pennsylvania in 2006. After it became clear that Scranton would not win the Pennsylvania Republican Party endorsement, his campaign called for Pennsylvania change to an "open primary" election.[5] Scranton dismissed his first two prior campaign managers over strategy issues.

In January 2006 Scranton fired his third campaign manager, Jim Seif, after Seif criticized Scranton's African American opponent during a television interview by saying, "the rich white guy in this campaign is Lynn Swann."[6] In February 2006, after his request for an open primary was denied, Scranton announced that he was withdrawing from the race for Republican nomination for Governor of Pennsylvania.[5]

[edit] Possible Candidate for Governor 2010

Scranton's name continues to surface as a possible Republican candidate to run for Governor in 2010, when Ed Rendell's term expires. He has created a new political action committee, GrowPAC.[1].

He has maintained a presence in the political arena, speaking at the annual Pennsylvania Leadership Conference and testifying before the State House of Representatives budget hearing. In May 2007, Scranton joined the Board of Directors for the Commonwealth Foundation, a Harrisburg public policy research center. [2].

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Associated Press. "Scranton Concedes He Used Drugs When He Was Younger", New York Times, 1986-09-08. 
  2. ^ a b c d Jonathan D. Silver. "Does the public have a right to delve into politician's indiscretions?", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 1999-08-29. 
  3. ^ a b c d e Tom Ferrick Jr.. "Recalling the Maharishi and Carville’s Killer Ad", New York Times, 2008-02-10. 
  4. ^ a b c Dimitri Vassilaros. "Yogi could be a bear for Scranton", Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 2005-10-13. 
  5. ^ a b James O'Toole. "Scranton quits governor race", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2006-02-08. 
  6. ^ Associated Press. "Transcript of exchange that led to firing of top Scranton aide", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2006-01-27. 
Preceded by
Ernest P. Kline		 Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania
1979–1987		 Succeeded by
Mark Singel
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Lieutenant Governors of Pennsylvania
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